More Than Anyone Else
by bonesintheocean
Summary: Eli and Fiona both agree that it would suck if their diverse post-graduation plans tore them apart from one another. Perhaps there's a solution.


"No graduation party?" Fiona belted as she slapped Eli's arm. "You should have told me! We could have shared!"

Eli raised his eyebrows at her. "Does that sound like something I'd do, Fiona?"

"Maybe if I pouted a bit." She flashed him a smile, fiddling with her hair, tied up elegantly.

"Yeah, well, I'm not the party type. I'm just glad it's all over."

Fiona nodded. "Ah, yes. Goodbye high school!" She sat lazily on the wall they were passing – she wasn't sure how long they'd been walking now. Fiona had pulled Eli aside at the end of the ceremony, and he gratefully accepted her offer to take a walk with her. She had been wearing a beautiful dress under her blue gown, and rolled her eyes at Eli's small attempt to look nice in a black button-down shirt and a black silk tie. She informed him, at that point, that he was fashionably hopeless.

Eli sat down beside her, sliding his hands into his pockets. He looked around them, trees hanging over the old, worn out cobblestones. He wasn't entirely sure where Fiona had led him, but it was a nice little spot. "So, why'd you bring me out here, Fi?"

"Just to talk, dear," she mused, gently patting his shoulder. "Just to talk."

Eli felt a grin pull on his lips, and he continued to admire the trees across the pathway. The sun was bright, making jagged little bits of yellow against the brilliant green. Some rays passed through all the way to the ground, creating puzzles that changed every time there was a breeze. He shifted his gaze to the girl beside him, who looked completely serene. She stared off into space, possibly admiring the colors just as he had been. Her relaxed smile was wrapped with deep red lipstick, and her eyelashes stood long from her face. She was nothing short of breathtaking. She turned her head, and their eyes met, causing her to giggle. She extended her hand and grasped his gently, swinging them together. "You know, Eli, I'm really, really glad we're friends."

"Yeah?" Eli muttered, his tone laced with sarcasm. He turned his focus back to the trees. "Me too."

Fiona sighed, happily. "I don't think I could have gotten through this past year without you. Everything with Charlie, school stuff, missing Declan and Holly J, Imogen stuff... And you stuck with me."

Squeezing her hand, Eli nodded. "And you've stuck with me, too. More than anyone else."

"Remember that one night, back in February, when I called you completely in tears at one in the morning, and you showed up with one of those heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and watched The Notebook with me?" Fiona rested her head against Eli's shoulder.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course I remember that. It's one of my most traumatic memories."

Fiona smacked his thigh with her free hand. "Come now, it wasn't so bad. I shared the chocolates."

"The gross ones. Seriously, Fiona, no one likes _orange crème_ chocolates."

"Fine, fine." Fiona exhaled softly, her eyes fluttering shut. She didn't mind how much Eli was slouching. She allowed herself to absorb the absolute tranquility of everything. The feeling of completeness. "What will I ever do without you?"

"Hm?"

Fiona looked up at him, their eyes locking once again. "Well, we're both going off to college. You're headed out into the world to become a fantastic writer, actor, artist, something beautiful. I'll be heading in a different direction of some kind, who knows where I'll end up. I get sad thinking about how we'll probably drift apart, and eventually lose each other. And I don't want that."

Eli's eyes fell to the spaces between the cobblestones, wrought with grass and mosses, pushing up from in between the cracks, rebelling against the path. Fiona was right. Neither of them would ever really _let_ it happen, but their diverse directions were bound to pull them apart from one another. Although Eli usually left all the cheesiness to Fiona, he knew he needed her, too. They had become almost attached at the hip since their drama class together, providing security and balance for each other that they couldn't seem to get anywhere else. It wasn't that he _couldn't_ live without her, he just didn't want to, and couldn't imagine it. "Me neither," he said softly. "It'd be awful."

"To say the least." With a small laugh, Fiona tightened her grip on Eli's fingers. She eyed the chipped polish on his nails, finding it almost too typical of him not to clean it off before his graduation ceremony. However, it seemed so perfect contrasted against her perfectly manicured red nails. She remembered fondly the times they had painted their nails black together when Eli had been having a bad day. Too many memories flooded her mind as they sat quietly observing the beautiful scenery. Times Eli ended up beside her in bed with a box of tissues, times she could persuade him into anything with a simple pout, times they laughed together over another one of their fascinating misadventures. And through everything, he stuck with her. Fiona was still trying to wrap her head around his commitment to her. No one else, aside from maybe Holly J, had ever hung around as long as Eli did. He was always there when she needed him, and vice versa. They took excellent care of each other, always. "So, needless to say, I've been... thinking."

"Sounds dangerous," Eli said through a smirk, looking down at her.

She elbowed him, earning a small cry. "I'm being _serious_, here, Goldsworthy."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"I know." Fiona resumed her rest against Eli's shoulder, letting another content sigh slip through her teeth. "But I really have been thinking, Eli. About us, and stuff like that."

Eli shifted slightly, bringing their hands that were tangled together onto his leg. He allowed a small gap of silence to form before he spoke, wanting to maintain the tranquility. He talked softly, so she could just barely hear him. "I have too, actually. Been thinking about us."

"I don't want to lose you. I don't want us to fall apart."

"Neither do I."

Fiona took a deep breath, closing her eyes yet again. Her thoughts were swimming, thick and questionable. She truly cared for Eli and trusted him with anything, but what she wanted to say was still just a bit difficult. "Do you..." she began quietly, "Do you love me, Eli?"

The amount of shock Eli felt was small. He was just a little surprised by her question, seeming almost entirely random. However, he smiled down at her, waiting for her eyes to open again before speaking. "You already know the answer to that, Fi."

"Could you still say it?" she asked, slightly nervous still.

Eli squeezed her hand. "I _love_ you, Fiona."

She showed him the most brilliant of smiles, lifting her head. "And I love you, Eli."

"You promise?"

Fiona wove her arm in with Eli's, pulling him close. "I could marry you, Goldsworthy."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

A comfortable silence settled in, Fiona's head on Eli's shoulder, their hands intertwined, and her other hand holding tight onto his arm. Her dress was red, like her lipstick and her nails. She wore silver heels, but had kicked them off to carry along the way. Her fingers were decorated with rings, her wrists adorned with silver bracelets of different sizes and textures. She ran her fingers over the ring on Eli's thumb, tracing the intricate patterns surrounding the onyx stone with her fingernails. As she did, she mulled over how odd it seemed to be that throughout the year, neither of them had actually found a real relationship. Try as they might, they hadn't been successful. Though it wasn't a pleasant thought, she couldn't help but smile. She knew that, in the end, it was probably for the best.

"Hey, Fiona."

Her attention was drawn from the silver patterns, and she sat up slightly.

"You know what we should do?" Eli's gaze was fixed somewhere down the path, and it was almost as if he were talking to himself. Fiona chose to relax against him again. He continued, despite her lack of response. "We should get married."

"Mm. Let's elope."

Eli chuckled, and moved his shoulder so she would look up at him. "Not now. Like, in the future. When we're older."

Fiona raised an eyebrow at him, but continued to smile. "Are you proposing, or are you suggesting a marriage pact?"

"Well, just think about it," Eli mused. "You're the best friend I've ever had. You keep me sane, safe, and you make me happier than anybody else. Maybe while we're off in separate directions, we'll find someone else. But right now, I can't think of anything better."

"Is it weird that I've thought about this, too?" Fiona said through a soft giggle. She squeezed his hand. "We are a little young for marriage. So, let's make a deal. A promise."

"Alright."

Fiona detached herself from him, and held out her pinkie. "If, by a proper age, we have not found someone else, made other plans, or anything of the like, we shall marry."

Eli hesitated slightly. "And what age is that?"

Fiona shrugged. "I don't know. Twenty seven? Thirty?"

He smiled, locking his pinkie with hers. She couldn't help but notice how beautifully his green eyes seemed to correspond with the leaves. "If I'm lonely when I'm twenty seven, I'll make sure to give you a call."

"Don't say it like we're not going to talk between now and then. These next nine years will be just as fantastic as the past year has been. We'll have dinners and eat ice cream and watch cheesy movies together. And if this still makes sense in nine years, I'll marry you."

"So I can make lonely phone calls before then?" His voice was decorated with sarcasm.

Fiona smirked, pulling him into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck, settling against him as she felt his hand on her back. She breathed the subtle amounts of cologne clinging to his shirt, and shut her eyes. "This is making me feel... strangely better about the future."

"_Our_ future," Eli said through his modest smile.

"Yes, _Elijah_. Our future."


End file.
